


A Study

by The_Secret_Life_Of_Tea



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Antisemitism, Character Study, I'd love to dive into prose, If anyone has prompts, Lot of headcanons in this, M/M, Multi, Poetry, Racism, So hmu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-10
Updated: 2017-06-10
Packaged: 2018-11-12 07:16:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11156931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Secret_Life_Of_Tea/pseuds/The_Secret_Life_Of_Tea
Summary: A small character study of each of the mercs.





	A Study

**Author's Note:**

  * For [vespirus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vespirus/gifts).



\---

Soldier

Boots tromp-stomping through mud,  
Over the knuckles of  
Cliffhanging men,  
Saving only those who they'd share a beer and a smoke with  
In the back parlor.  
Their helmeted heads wobble under the weight of  
Decisions, decisions.

\---  
Spy

Baby’s bones have been put to rest long ago, young man,  
Now sneak and slink your way through the pipes  
To the jugular.  
Slither, you goddamn snake,  
Ye of little faith,  
Ghosting through the alley  
To place a tender hand on baby’s brow.

\---  
Pyro

Burn like the heart of a phoenix,  
Little freak.  
Your words are slurred like the intoxicated commands  
Of a drunken Nazi.  
You don't understand why they’ll douse you with gasoline,  
But you’ll learn quite quickly  
When you burn.

\---

Engineer

Machines are the only thing that make sense in this world,  
And you'll stand by it.  
Even as lynchings ring out.  
The snap of the rope,  
The snap of the neck,  
And snap of the black man’s teeth clenched together in solidarity.  
You don't agree with the white man's jeers,  
And the taste of buttermilk biscuits  
Goes sour in your mouth.  
Head north.

\---

Scout

Daddy’s gone missing.  
You could never really figure out where he went,  
Only that “He’s a brave man, son,  
And don't you forget it.”  
You laugh and smoke and drink and shoot guns,  
Race through the alleyways to outrun the creeping sensation of a spook,  
Always following you.

\---

Heavy

Roar like an iron-clawed bear,  
Slash those, slow, who get between you and your family.  
Send yourself away to Siberia,  
Exiled.  
When your little sister freezes to death in your arms,  
Vow to never let go.  
Keep your family close  
And your Doktor closer.

\---

Medic

A face of many,  
A hardworking Jew  
Who no “real” German can trust,  
And who no one mourns when sent away to die.  
A pink triangle marks a white coat,  
And a grayed-out, blue tattoo  
Marks your value in numbers.  
Watch your patients, hawklike,  
Like watching children starve to death. 

\---

Sniper

Lone wolf, seeking out solitude,  
With an ace bandage pressing down around your breasts.  
Bullets let you breathe when your chest won’t.  
Rock back and forth tucked away into your van,  
Murmur under your breath and snap your head up when someone listens, and,  
God forbid,  
Answers. 

\---

Demo

A lumbering, lilting, languid slurring voice  
Curls under your thickening tongue.  
You’re just here for a good time,  
And as you clutch your rum,  
Dependent as a baby on his bottle,  
You grimace in the darkness  
And cuss the fates under reeking breath.

**Author's Note:**

> Headcanons that may not be super apparent: 
> 
> -Medic is a Jewish German and gay;
> 
> -Pyro is also Jewish, and was sent to the same concentration camp Medic was;
> 
> -Pyro is also a nonverbal, autistic, intersex person who is genderfluid;
> 
> -Sniper is trans and autistic too, but I pulled the bit about him being autistic in the poem because it didn't gel with the style;
> 
> -Soldier fought in Vietnam;
> 
> -Spy is Scout's dad (canon, I know, but I just wanted to make it clear)
> 
> That's bout it. I'm dashing-hyphen on tumblr, come talk to me about stuff if you like. Prompts welcome.


End file.
